MERCHANTS OF DEATH CELEBRATE WAR IN UKRAINE

By Frank Morales

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, pounding cities with ordnance and dispatching troops across the border. The sonic boom of fighter jets filled the air as civilians flooded the highways in Kyiv, attempting to flee the capital. Since then, the world has been witness to a see sawing battle with Ukrainian troops and civilians holding out against much larger Russian forces in a war calculated to last well into the future, thus prolonging the suffering of the Ukrainian people, with some 4,000 civilians already having been killed, “an extremely conservative estimate.”

The scenes from Ukraine are heart rending — civilians killed by Russian bombs, families taking shelter in subway stations, millions of refugees on the move, and more. But there’s one group that is benefitting enormously from the conflict: American weapons contractors.

The sad truth is that, although wars are bad for people, particularly for civilians and non combatants, (and for soldiers who are but pawns in a bigger game), war isn’t devastating for weapons manufacturers. In fact, quite the opposite. The ongoing war dramatizes the power of militarism and the influence of defense contractors, who are the driving force of militarism. A ruthless drive for markets — intertwined with imperialism — has propelled NATO expansion, while inflaming wars from Eastern Europe to Yemen, and providing Russian President Vladimir Putin with a pretext to enrich his own nation’s arms dealers, while further solidifying his hold on power.

As the violence has caused unimaginable suffering, Ukrainian government officials have been calling for more arms, pleading to the very sectors of Western (U.S.) imperialism, that, it can be argued, caused the carnage in the first place. And now those sectors are profiting from it. Witness the soaring stock value of global arms makers, led by the U.S.

U.S. defense contractor stocks have soared since the conflict started. Northrop, General Dynamics and Raytheon have all run to record highs since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. IBD's Aerospace/Defense industry group has rallied more than 9%. The industry gained, despite a decline by Boeing (BA). The aerospace giant lost ground as sanctions carved the Russian airspace out of commercial transport markets. Javelin anti tank missiles, built by Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Raytheon, are part of a $350 million weapons package approved by the Biden administration for Ukraine. This is on top of the more than $2.7 billion in U.S. security support for Ukraine's military since 2014, including more than $650 million in 2021.

The Wall Street Journal summed up the arms industry’s bright new prospects in a March 1, 2022 headline: “Ukraine Crisis Stokes Defense Industry Shares.” The article notes that Lockheed Martin shares have hit an all time high. Meanwhile, BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defense contractor, saw its stock value rise by 25% while French arms company Thales saw its share price rise by over 26%. in the wake of promises by Germany and other European states to sharply increase their military budgets.

There are billion$ to be made on a new military buildup in Europe, from the recent offer of $6 billion worth of General Dynamics M 1 tanks to Poland to reports that Germany may consider purchasing Lockheed Martin’s F 35 combat aircraft. And this is on top of the costs of sending large shipments of anti tank and anti aircraft systems to Ukraine. But the value of contracts tied to the current crisis in Ukraine may be small change when compared with an even larger potential boon for the industry — locking in big increases in the Pentagon’s already massive $800 billion dollar budget for years to come as nations gear up for a new era of wars; conflicts manufactured by those who are positioned to provide the necessary tools of violence    the weapons profiteers.

From the point of view of U.S. arms makers, the world’s largest weapons dealers by far, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has fortuitously presented them with enormous business opportunities which they’ve extolled. News reports from the U.S. revealed that Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, globally amongst the most advanced armament makers, for example, were openly telling their investors that the Ukraine conflict was good for business. Even before the February Russian invasion, defense industry leaders were expressing confidence that crises in Ukraine and beyond would pad their bottom lines.

In January 2022, Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes mentioned “tensions in Eastern Europe” in an earnings call with investors as one aspect of global instability that his company could benefit from: “…We are seeing, I would say, opportunities for international sales. We just have to look to last week, where we saw the drone attack in the UAE [United Arab Emirates], which have attacked some of their other facilities. And of course, the tensions in Eastern Europe, the tensions in the South China Sea, all of those things are putting pressure on some of the defense spending over there. So I fully expect we’re going to see some benefit from it.” Lockheed Martin’s CEO also told investors that “great power competition” would benefit his company’s business. Analysts predict that spending on military equipment could rise as much as 50% over the next five years.

Now, whether one views the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, anticipated for some time now, as a justifiable Russian “special operation,” the consequence of Western/NATO provocation; or the expansionist designs of a deranged Putin, living out Tsarist fantasies of a neo imperialist Russia, the simple fact is that while people are dying, families and communities are destroyed, combatants brutalizing and murdering one another, the real winners in all of this are the arms makers, the global weapons producers who are celebrating the resurgence of a new Cold War.

Under the prevailing siege like situation in Ukraine, and the pleadings of Ukrainian leaders for more weapons, the inexorable response of the U.S. and fellow European powers has been to return to arms guaranteeing, which in turn results in massive profitability to arms manufacturers for the foreseeable future, much like during the salad days of the Cold War decades.

As the world reverts to a 21st century redux of the Cold War, albeit with even more advanced nuclear weaponry, the U.S. and NATO states have commenced refurbishing their militaries for deployment along Russia’s borders and augmenting their individual operational capabilities. In an historic first, the European Union (EU) too has pledged to purchase weapons and transfer them to Ukraine, significantly boosting global materiel sales, for a seemingly just cause.

The “just cause” of course is the well-documented and well-publicized destruction of urban centers and the indiscriminate slaughter of civilian non combatants suffering the loss of life and livelihood. Caught between the predatory imperialism of capitalist elites and their armaments cohorts, and the ideological and political requirements of the Big Powers, it is always the masses of global citizenry, powerless in the face of violent militarist machinations, who suffer.

According to the 2021 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute [SIPRI] annual report, 10 countries monopolized 90.3% of the world’s arms trade. Of these, China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S. accounted for 75.9% during 2016 20, with Russia and the U.S. leading the pack. Israel, Italy, South Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom are offering an assortment of operationally proven equipment amounting to 14.4 % of overall global military sales. The rest of the world, including India – whose share was 0.2% – provided the remaining 9.7% that comprised largely low end kit and components and sub assemblies that were supplied to larger producers.

Furthermore, Germany’s decision to overcome its trauma and circumspection after World War Two and spend 100 billion Euros, or 2% of its Gross Domestic Product [GNP] to rearm its Bundeswehr, too, will be a godsend for arms manufacturers internationally. Responding to Russia’s militarism, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that this massive outlay would not only include investments and armaments projects for his country’s military, but would also supply weaponry to Ukraine, ensuring monies for its arms makers.

In January 1961, during his Farewell Address to the nation, outgoing U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, in an intuitively accurate prediction, stated that the huge industrial and military machinery of “defense” driven by the Pentagon Inc.’s insatiable appetite for profit, could not only lead to unending war, but would also endanger U.S. liberties and the democratic process, not to mention fueling the militarization of domestic police, whose job it is to ensure popular compliance with imperialist objectives.

Nonetheless, weapons manufacturers, through incessant lobbying (more than one lobbyist per every member of Congress) have succeeded in skewing U.S. policy towards militarist expenditures. For example, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics co founded the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, which has for some time encouraged (issued orders) to the Biden administration to take action, even prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, giving credence to the notion that such wars are in actuality industrially-driven events; wars manufactured at the behest of profit-hungry weapons makers, profiteers who have never seen a war they didn’t like.

Of particular concern presently is the possibility that the Russian invasion and nuclear threats emanating from Putin will increase prospects for reconsideration of the Pentagon’s three decades long plan to build a new generation of nuclear weapons, at a cost of up to $2 trillion. Advocates of a rational and revolutionary approach to confronting U.S. militarism must persevere in opposing the nuclear plan, especially the proposal to build a new generation of land based missiles, which former secretary of defense William Perry has described as “some of the most dangerous weapons in the world,” because a president would have only a matter of minutes to decide whether or not to launch them, on warning of an attack, greatly increasing the risk of an accidental nuclear war based on a false alarm.

Opposing excessive Pentagon budgets that decrease our security, violate the lives and livelihood of our global neighbors, while padding the profits of the arms (and oil) industry, will be particularly challenging in the months and years ahead, given the hegemonic grip war making, as a way of life, has on the American people.

Hopefully, on a planet threatened and exploited by perpetual war, pandemics, climate change, growing class inequality, racial and economic injustice, and an attack on the foundations of democracy itself, a revitalized movement of revolutionary anti militarism can take hold.

The time is long past due that we break the chains of militarist enslavement by any and all means necessary and redirect the resources and wealth created by “we the people” away from weapons makers and their capitalist enablers, and instead utilize the wealth that is created by us toward the betterment of our collective life together, ensuring free health care, education and housing for all! Repair and rebuild our nation’s critical infrastructure! Arrest climate change (and oil barons) and alleviate the suffering and violence of poverty, homelessness and hunger in America! The time is now to break the chains of Militarism Incorporated and send the CEO merchants of death packing!

[On a personal note, my wife and I have been setting up weekly street sales to raise money to send directly to Ukrainian families in need. If you have anything that you would like to donate to sell; clothing, books, knick knacks, dishes, houseware etc, you can contact me at frm@panix.com. We greatly appreciate your support. Thank you so much! ]

Sources:

•https://www.ohchr.org/en/press releases/2022/05/ukraine millions displac

ed traumatised and urgently need help say experts

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acturers

•Arms companies look to profit from Ukraine conflict

raine conflict/

•The Russia Ukraine War: Latest News and Live Updates

card/ukraine crisis stokes defense company shares uzekiFrdLbPoI4fNWw

2F

•https://inthesetimes.com/article/ukraine russia raytheon lockheed martin 

general dynamics weapons industry

•War in Ukraine Spells Bounty for Weapons Contractors

actors/

•https://www.investors.com/news/defense stocks russia ukraine invasion 

upends military austerity europe/

•https://truthout.org/articles/arms industry sees ukraine conflict as an opp

ortunity not a crisis/

•https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/02/21/military spending defe

nse contractors profiting from war weapons sales/39092315/

See also:

• Death Pays a Dividend, Left Book Club Edition, Fenner Brockway and

Frederic Mullally, London, 1944

• Merchants of Death, Dodd, Mead and Company, HC Engelbrecht and FC

Hannigan, New York, 1934